Skating Season withdrawal help forum

As a disabled "elder" this season was a diversion and uplift. I wondered if others felt same? I thought maybe we could talk about this and also have a thread where we talk about what we can remember fondly. Arguments are ok, just let us be kind to each other. We have all nations and understanding levels here. Or what do you think is coming this year regarding ?

I wonder what happened to Johnny, is he divorced? And is Meryl dating Maks. Big time chemistry there. I love her dancing-a bit more than Charlie, though his hair deserves a ten.

Please post about the exciting junior most of us do not follow. If you have a video of you yourself skating, maybe you could share it. If there is a past performance on youtube that was overlooked in any discipline, share it. ?For those with much technical acumen, please explain the jumps etc. I need slow mo to know if a jump is clean. So past things or future things, the off season is here. Olympics and Worlds were amazing. Now what? Anything goes....

Ok so second post...was anyone blown away by the new to me Machida this season? And tho I wasn't fond of Hanyu's white blouse, I was ok with Machida's firebird. It seemed to suit him. I really think he is a good rival for Hanyu, and takes the edge off missing Dai. He is currently my second fave Japanese male. What is consensus on Machida?

Ok so second post...was anyone blown away by the new to me Machida this season? And tho I wasn't fond of Hanyu's white blouse, I was ok with Machida's firebird. It seemed to suit him. I really think he is a good rival for Hanyu, and takes the edge off missing Dai. He is currently my second fave Japanese male. What is consensus on Machida?

I absolutely fell in love with Machida this season. His Worlds short was definitely world-record-worthy, imo

Ok so second post...was anyone blown away by the new to me Machida this season?

Absolutely! I was at Skate America, when the "New Machida" made his first appearance. I was really only there to see Asada and Takahashi - it was my last chance to see them in competition before (I assumed) they would retire.

I didn't have big expectations for Machida... but he grabbed everyone's attention right from the start. He was On Fire for both the SP and the FS. Very impressive, and the thing that struck me the most was the self-belief written all over his face throughout.

He did not look at all surpised by his scores, or at taking the gold medal. He didn't get over-excited... rather, he was quite calm, like everything was exactly as he expected, exactly as he'd planned. To me, his expression said "I knew I would win. I made it happen"

Then for the rest of the season, he proved that Skate America was no one-off fluke. Very consistent, many well-earned achievements, and unquestionably deserving his place in the Olympic team.

Surely an inspiration to others: proof that you don't have to be a child prodigy, and you can reach "elite status" later in your career.

Ok so second post...was anyone blown away by the new to me Machida this season?

Oh I definitely was and still am! Tatsuki brought it on at exactly the right (Olympic) season, making it for the first time to the Japanese national team. His debut at Worlds must be one of the most successful ever for a first-timer, finishing just a hairline short of first. I feel he could have been scored higher PCS wise last season, but I think the judges will (should) give him his due this coming season.

He is also one of the most cerebral skaters around as he takes time to do research on the concept behind his programs, like the his "East of Eden" SP where he apparently read John Steinbeck's novel. That must be why he skates that program with such passion and conviction.

I just wish he will continue until the next Olympics as apparently he has said per a post in the Tatsuki fanfest thread that he will only compete for the next two seasons and then retire. I certainly hope he changes his mind.

Machida was certainly impressive. His short program is one of my favorites. He put his whole self into it and it nearly made me tear up.
He finally has the attention of the international judges, so if he continues to be consistent, he will have plenty of chances to beat Hanyu and get to the top of the podium this up-comming season. Good Luck!

In the last two Olympic cycles 2006-2010 and 2010-2014 we had 8 world championships and 4 world champions. Even though none succeeded in defending a title, the world podium was pretty much dominated by 4 ladies. And of course, the GPF was also dominated by these 4 ladies. The only one who managed to win an important competition in the last 8 years (GPF and Worlds) was Alissa Czisny in 2010 (GPF champion) - Sochi was controversial and I won't go into that.
With the exception of 2012 worlds, from 2007-2014 at least two of Mao, Yuna, Caro and Miki were on the podium. In 8 year, the only ladies besides the Great 4 who managed to win medals at worlds were: Joannie, Laura, Alena, Akiko and Julia.

Out of 24 world medals, 19 were won by Mao, Yuna, Caro and Miki. And this with Yuna not competing in 2012 and Miki retiring after 2011 worlds.
Out of 24 GPF medals, 14 were won Mao, Yuna, Caro and Miki, with Yuna not competing in the GP for the last 4 seasons and Miki retiring after 2011 worlds.
Out of 6 Olympic medals (Vancouver and Sochi), 4 were won by Yuna, Mao and Caro

I wonder if we'll see such longevity and dominance by the ladies to come.
There are many talents to come, including the recent Olympic champion, but considering all the above, in order to be great, you need to prove it more than just once. I hope she will do it, of course, but loosing these 4 great champions at once is a great loss, IMO

At least we have DWTS, so it's kind of like the stepdown method of withdrawal. Then, it's the Bachelor, so time to get outside and play

I'm with Mirunna about wondering about the ladies. With so much going on in Russia with the young ladies, the Europeans and Worlds could really flip flop a lot. They're all so talented, so I don't see any one being the leader and hanging on to consistent titles. And SoYoun Park could really take off.
As for the US, that's anyone's guess. I think any of the top 3 can win the national title, but I don't have a ton of faith that any of them will get to much higher than a world or Grand Prix Final bronze next year.

On another note, we had a ton of surprises this year. The men's splat fest at the Olympics, Adelina's gold, and the emergence of Anna P. Does anyone have any guesses about surprises we might see next year?

The ladies will the dominated by the Russians, though it's unclear who at this point. Yulia has the best momentum right now, but with so many rivals, I doubt we'll return to the age of Michelle-Irina alternating titles. And of course, Mao might continue--if she does, I think she'll remain the one to beat for the next season or two at least.

Men will be Hanyu, Javier, Machida, and Denis Ten. With Hanyu on top unless he makes mistakes (which isn't too infrequent).

I think the surprises already happened, LOL: all the old timers saying they're reconsidering retirement! Though this might not count as "next season," since many of them will take the year off.

In the last two Olympic cycles 2006-2010 and 2010-2014 we had 8 world championships and 4 world champions. Even though none succeeded in defending a title, the world podium was pretty much dominated by 4 ladies. And of course, the GPF was also dominated by these 4 ladies. The only one who managed to win an important competition in the last 8 years (GPF and Worlds) was Alissa Czisny in 2010 (GPF champion) - Sochi was controversial and I won't go into that.
With the exception of 2012 worlds, from 2007-2014 at least two of Mao, Yuna, Caro and Miki were on the podium. In 8 year, the only ladies besides the Great 4 who managed to win medals at worlds were: Joannie, Laura, Alena, Akiko and Julia.

Out of 24 world medals, 19 were won by Mao, Yuna, Caro and Miki. And this with Yuna not competing in 2012 and Miki retiring after 2011 worlds.
Out of 24 GPF medals, 14 were won Mao, Yuna, Caro and Miki, with Yuna not competing in the GP for the last 4 seasons and Miki retiring after 2011 worlds.
Out of 6 Olympic medals (Vancouver and Sochi), 4 were won by Yuna, Mao and Caro

I wonder if we'll see such longevity and dominance by the ladies to come.
There are many talents to come, but loosing these 4 great champions at once is a great loss, IMO

I think I wrote this on my eyepad then it disappeared. My mistake or haunted computers???? Another OS subject. My Asus lost sound except if you plug in headphones, and so I was not feeling up to looking for them. I watched several Olympic and World skates with no sound. I totally changed my mind on outcome of Olympic ladies. Not to start WW7 but it is very interesting to watch a program sans music. I came away mad that (madder) that AS was so overscored in presentation. I bow to her superior tricks but I found myself really understanding how sophisticated Adios Nonino was. Again, Yuna held back, seemed nervous, but without the music, her musicality was spot on and AS is not in her (or Caro's ) league. ANd I have never been a YUNUBER (my word-where is patent office, lol) I suspect we will be debating this a very long time.

I actually think Julia and Anna will go further, and Yelena will be a firecracker with better programs and costumes. This costuming is a Russian downfall, but they have some real corkers in the ladies event. Let us hope Japan has some new ladies to give them a run. I think the US has 3 fabulous women and two can do the same tech content. Gracie is a beautiful skater, I hope she is more respected this year. Tired of the geopolitical scoring but that is FS I guess forever and for good.